FOR ADULTS ONLY: CHOCOLATE-IRISH CREAM PUDDING

I've done two classic, general patronage pudding recipes:  Raisin Pudding and Banana Raisin Pudding.  This time, I'm keeping the recipe simple but more adult because I added Irish Cream, a sweet and creamy liquer with an Irish Whiskey base.

INGREDIENTS
1 loaf    White bread, cubed
3 cups   Fresh milk
1 cup     semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup  Irish Cream (Bailey's)
1/2 cup  Cocoa powder (sweetened)1/2 cup  Muscovado sugar
1/4 cup  All-purpose cream
1 tbsp    Vanilla extract2 tsps    Almond extract
6 pcs     Eggs

TO MAKE

You need 4 bowls to get things started:

In your 1st bowl place the sliced bread (1-inch cubes). You can take out the sides if you want to but I use them since I don't like wasting anything.

In the 2nd bowl, lightly whisk the milk, cream, and liqueur. 

In the 3rd bowl, mix the sugar and and cocoa powder.  Add the sugar/cocoa mixture to the milk/cream/liquer mixture. Make sure to remove lumps.

In the 4th bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add the vanilla and almond extract.  Pour this egg mixture to the milk/cream/liquer/sugar/cocoa mixture. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit (162.778 Celsius). Grease a your pan (13 x 9 is recommended).  Place the bread cubes in the pan and pour the mixture over the cubed bread. Gently mix in places where you want the liquid to seep into the bread.  Let it stand for 15 minutes to let the bread absorb the mixture.

Put the pan inside the oven for an hour. 

To check if it's ready, stick a toothpick (or a knife) through the middle. If it comes out clean, then it;s ready. If stuff sticks, then put it back in the oven and check after 3-5 minutes.

I like to serve this pudding warm with a scoop of cold Vanilla ice cream. But if you're preparing this in advance,  you can refrigerate it and serve it cold with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

TRIED & TASTED: HOPIA SEBUYAS TAGALOG

This one's a surprise. A good surprise.  I grew up knowing that hopia as a  flaky pastry filled with sweet mung beans and that sebuyas tagalog (Tagalog onions) is pungent and has a unique sharp taste. That these two could come together is a surprise. A pleasant one. 

Discovered these when the hubby brought home some. The onions turned sweet and less pungent when cooked. I'm guessing, sauteed then baked in with the pastry. According to the book On Food and Cooking,"When onions and their relatives are heated, the various sulfur compounds react with each other and with other substances to produce a range of characteristic flavor molecules."Apparently, the sulfur breaks out the sugars as well, thus, the sweetness.

I get my packs from the Supermarket but the label says it's from Margie's Cakes and Pastries from Bacolod. 

Margie's Cakes and Pastries

Address: No. 12 Las Vegas St. Las Palmas Subdivision 

Bacolod City, Negros Occidental 6100 Philippines
Telephone: +63-34 434-9375;  +63-34 433-4566

FOUND ONLINE: FUNNY VIDEOS ON PINOY FOOD

It's late at night and I can't sleep. So what do I do? I surf the web and find funny stuff which will probably keep me up more.

Mikey Bustos' "I Go To Palengke" 
This well-produced parody f Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" will take you a a quick tour of a palengke, what we flips call the wet market.

Comedy Laugh's "Funny Clips | Foreign When Eating Balut!"

Title says it all. This is how Filipinos torture foreigners who are brave enough to try balut, fertilized duck egg. The word "swallow!" has never been so abused.

Googlee TV's "Funny Filipino Chef at the Benihana l London l Amazing Hand Tricks" 

Food and entertainment are the two things we Pinoys are good at wherever you may find us around the world. Chef Charles Miguel proves that.

Megan Batoon's "How to Cook: Lumpia"

Most Filipinos have a get-together to concide with Manny Pacquiao's fights. During the almost but not quite epic Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, this spunky Fil-Am tried to make Lumpia.  

 

R. San Guilmo's  video of "Rex Navarette - Hot Dog and Filipino Cuisine"

Stand-up Rex navarette talks about the Filipino obsession with hotdog.

FOOD QUOTE OF THE WEEK

REPOST: Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know Taste Delicious With Chocolate

From the title alone, you already know that this article from Endless Simmer of  Huffington Post is an interesting read. What does taste good with chocolate? You'd be surprised when you find out!

Just click on the pic to get linked!

RECIPE: PRAWNS IN RED EGG YOLK SAUCE

Recently had old friends over for dinner. And when I say “old” I don’t mean geriatric. I mean friends from way back like since the first grade. Almost everyone in our barkada live outside of the country but thanks to social networking technology we still keep in touch. So when when we do see each other in person, it’s a very special occasion. One that needs to be celebrated with good food to go along with the great conversation.  So, for that particular day I made an effort to cook something Pinoy, Prawns in Red Egg Yolk Sauce.

It’s easy to make. Here’s the recipe so you can try it yourself.

INGREDIENTS

·  500 gms.  Prawns, shelled and deveined

·  4 pcs.       Red Egg Yolks, mashed

·  2 tbsp.      Butter, salted

·  2 tbsp.      Cooking Oil

·  5 cloves    Garlic, minced

·  1 stalk       Leeks, sliced

·  Salt & Pepper to taste

TO MAKE

Prepare the prawns by removing the shell  and keeping the head on. Devein. Wash, drain and set aside.

Halve the red eggs and scoop out the yolk. Set the whites aside and use it later on somethine else like fresh tomato salad. I recommend to use the whites on the same day otherwise, keep it in the ref overnight.  Make sure to remove the flimsy white membrane that encloses the yolk a.k.a. vitelline. 

Make your own double boiler by heating water in a pan. Place the red egg yolks in a metal bowl and place on your DIY double boiler. Mash the red egg yolks with a fork. You can skip this part but I find that mashing the yolks over heat allows the yolk adhere to the butter better, making the sauce creamier.

Heat up the oil in the pan. Once it’s hot enough, fry the prawns. Once the color of the bottom part changes, turn the prawn over. Once the prawns are half-cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add the butter and stir fry the garlic. Once the garlic turns light golden brown, add the mashed salted egg yolks. Wait for the mixture to turn frothy before tossing in the half-cooked prawns. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes for small sized prawns, 5 minutes for big prawns.

Once cooked, place in a serving dish and top with chopped leeks. Serve hot.

TRIED & TASTED: LULA'S HOUSE OF KARE-KARE

 

I like neighborhood restos. Most are unpretentious and cozy. It's like having lunch at your house but not. Had the chance to eat at Lula’s House of Kare-kare, along Major Dizon Street in Marikina. It’s usually a quiet street unless the Katipunan traffic goes into overdrive and motorists find themselves taking a short cut to Marcos highway via this residential area.

Since the resto owner tagged itself as a  "House of Kare-kare," I expected a selection of Kare-kare but there was only one- oxtail. My expectations were raised. After all, if you named your resto after one dish, then it must be truly outstanding.

So when it came, warm and neatly presented in a white ceramic bowl, I quickly spooned a portion into my plate, along with the bagoong.

The dish was a classic concoction of oxtail, tripe and vegetables in a peanut-based stew with a side of bagoong alamang. The orange-brown broth was bright and appetizing but watery and not as 'malapot' as what I'm used to. The peanut-y taste was not evident so I'm guessing they either used freshly ground peanuts or imported peanut butter which  tends to be blander. 

I would probably eat there again but I can think of other restaurants that serve Kare-kare I would truly crave.

LULA'S HOUSE OF KARE-KARE

8 Pres. Roxas St. cor. Major Dizon St.

Industrial Valley Subdivision,  Marikina City